


Bâbinh

by sourassin (scherryzade)



Series: Dwarrowdams [5]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Female Dori, Female Nori (Tolkien), Female Ori, Past Rape/Non-con, Slurs, Snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 17:04:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1518428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scherryzade/pseuds/sourassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He doesn't hear what Nori says as she dances around Dwalin on the far side of the clearing, and he's too far away to hear whatever it is that Dwalin says that makes her go so still.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bâbinh

**Author's Note:**

> A continuance of '[Three Daughters of Durin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/919341)' - now both scenes from a longer story, as yet unwritten. This takes place somewhere between Rivendell and the mountains, long enough into the quest for Nori and Dwalin to have gotten thoroughly on each others nerves...

He doesn't hear what Nori says as she dances around Dwalin on the far side of the clearing - Thorin can guess, seeing the tension in Dwalin's shoulders as he ducks past her. He keeps an eye on them, but he's too far away to hear whatever it is that Dwalin says that makes her go so still. He can guess, and the outrage in Dori's voice is clear enough when she barrels towards them.

"Don't you dare say such a thing," she snaps, and strikes him with an open hand. It's not enough to lay Dwalin out, though it might have levelled a lesser dwarf. It's enough to make him stumble back, and while Thorin knows Dwalin won't answer the blow, he's not above defending himself if Dori strikes again. 

"What is this?" Thorin asks, reaching them in time to stay Dori's hand.

"That rukhs-," she starts, but Nori interrupts her.

"No need to be angry on my account, Dori," she says, and her voice is as clear and bold as ever, but there's something in it that gives Thorin pause, all the same. "He's read the charges against me, after all. You haven't."

Dori spins to face her, slack-jawed with shock. Nori grins, and Thorin sees none of her customary humour in it. Recovering her voice, Dori hisses, "How could you?"

Nori shrugs. "How could I not?" She sweeps her gaze around the company, grin never faltering. They're all staring back, now. "Well, you all look like you'll be terrible company tonight," she says, then turns and swaggers into the darkness.

"What did you call her?" asks Thorin into the silence she leaves behind.

"I only said that any as put her on her back would do well to keep two fingers on his purse strings-"

"Only?" growls Thorin.

Dwalin crosses his arms, expression sullen. "You heard what she said. Good as admitted it."

Ori whimpers at this, and moves to chase after her sister, but Dori catches her by the arm, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Dori, please," says Ori, scrabbling uselessly at the fingers round her arm. Dori shakes her head, and doesn't say anything, just fixes Thorin with a look that's half mute defiance, half silent plea.

Thorin, for his part, must resist the urge to turn to Balin for some solution. "I should send you after her to apologise," he mutters to Dwalin.

"Nay, better you go. No need for both of us to lose our beards." Thorin shoots him a dark look, and follows Nori into the trees.

She hasn't gone far. The ground starts to climb not far from where they stopped, and she's looking up the first steep incline when he reaches her. She doesn't turn to face him.

"I fear -" He clears his throat. "I fear I have not been the leader I should, all those years in the wilderness -"

She laughs, a bright, chilling sound in the mild summer night. "You think it never happened in Erebor?"

"Not - not like that. There would never have been -" He flushes, but perseveres. "Erebor was rich. You could have asked any price -"

"Oh, Mahal, you think I wanted to be a courtesan?" She finally turns, and gives him a scathing look. "He didn't ask, so I didn't ask." He stares at her in horror. "Do you think that never happened in Erebor?"

He feels a blaze of anger on her behalf. "You would've had recourse to justice. You still - tell me his name, and I swear, when Erebor is -"

"Peace, my King. He was not one of Durin's folk." Her mouth is still quirked in a smile, and her knuckles are white. "Besides, it was a fair transaction. He took my maidenhead, and I took his gold." There is a tremor running through her, and it takes all Thorin's strength not to reach for her. "But in time I got better at thievery, and found it easier on my toes than my back."

"Namadith!" says a choked voice behind him. Nori's gaze jumps away from Thorin, suddenly wild, and she turns her back on them.

"Hush, sister, I am quite well," she says, and her voice is thin and brittle. "It was years ago," she says, as Dori folds her into her arms. "I have not thought on it in years," she says, as her legs give out, and only her sister's strength keeps her upright.

He turns away.

The rest of the company is waiting for him, restless and subdued. He jerks his head to Ori, sending her scurrying into the darkness after her sisters. 

"Gloin," he snaps, "set another fire in the clearing below. The khuzdînh will be staying apart from us tonight. Bombur, go with him. You'll share the watch tonight." Gloin opens his mouth to protest, but Bombur pulls him away before he can get started.

"You don't mean to indulge the whore's pride," asks Dwalin.

Thorin has not struck Dwalin in anger since they were lads. It hurts as much, and has as little effect, as he remembers. The only difference is that Dwalin does not lay him flat in response.

"Bite your tongue," Thorin tells him, and as Dwalin starts to growl a riposte, he throws up a hand to silence him. "There is no dishonour," he says, loud enough that the rest of the company can hear, "in being dishonourably used."

Into the silence that follows, he tells Dwalin: "You will apologise. Tomorrow. Or whenever she wishes to hear it."

Dwalin nods. It's Balin who asks, "And if she does not want to hear it?"

Thorin rounds on him, and Balin raises his hands appeasingly, but does not take back the question. "Then he will continue to hold his tongue," says Thorin. Then, as the realisation of what he's told them hits him, "Nor will any of you speak of it, save that she wills it."

"And she is not likely to will it," prompts Balin, gently.

"No." Thorin's anger, useless as it is, slips away from him. There is nothing to be done, nor to be said, and he sits, because he cannot walk away. The company settles around him, staying close to the fire, discomfort clear in every aborted movement and hushed conversation. He takes a certain bitter satisfaction from realising Nori was right - they will none of them be good company this night.

**Author's Note:**

> (Trying to shake of writer's block, or rather, cyclical writer's procrastination, in which I spend so much time deciding which story to write, I never get anything done.)
> 
> I went back and forth on writing this, because I really don't want it to seem like this is the only thing that defines who or what Nori is, and without the rest of the story, which is about how these three dwarrowdam sisters change the course of the quest, it gains disproportionate weight. But I couldn't get rid of it, and hopefully if I get back into the swing of writing I can re-purpose it so it's just one element of many.
> 
> Miscellaneous Khuzdul via the Dwarrow Scholar  
> Bâbinh: 'turn-lady', inspired by old slang terms for prostitutes who steal from their clients.  
> rukhs: orc - I suspect Dori was going to expand on that insult.  
> Namadith: Little sister (My headcanon is that up until this point, Dori only calls Ori 'namadith')  
> khuzdînh: dwarf-ladies, dwarrowdams. Mostly I prefer to say all dwarves are khuzd (I know, this is entirely contradicted by the fact that I'm putting this in a series called 'Dwarrowdams'), but in this context I wanted Thorin to make the distinction.


End file.
